The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1887-03-30
Address or DR.. L. #. Rousrl. Of
New Haven. Welcoming Tlle
STATE Grange, October 2stIl,

1856.
Ladies', Gentlemen and Members of The
State Grange of West Virginia:
1t gives me great pleasure to ex-
tend to- you cordial welcome.-
And on behalf of the people of New
Haven, and of Graham district, I
tender you our hospitality, and
hope that your stay among us may
be both pleasant and profitable.
1t gives me pleasure to welcome
you-first, from the fact that all
my early days were spent on farm,
therefore, my earliest recollections,
which are always the most impress
sive and lasting, were made when
following the life which you now
lead.
In consideration of this fact, I
thought it might not be amiss to
indulge in few remarks incident
to the life of the farmer boy and
the yong farmer, because on this
point i could speak from exper-
fence az well as from observation.
am the more disposed to make
these remarks from the fact that
farmer boys in general think farm
life is an exceedingly hard life and
| wlthal, very mOnotonous, and thus
early form prejudice against that
which is controlling factor in de
Gliding upon the pursuit which will
be their future life's work, and /
am sure that when we are about to
make this decision, we should be
free from prejudice, at least, upon
this point Now, if / can say a
word to encourage the boy on the
farm, or the young man who is just
on the point of deciding what he
shall do in the future, or give a
word of advice to the old farmer
who is the parent of the dissatisfied
boy, then l shall be satisfied.
| shall say first what | have to
say to the old farmer about the
young farmer. The first point is:
how can | make my boy satisfied,
happy and coutented on the farm,
and preserve his love and regard
for me. That you must not expect
that the boy will have all the in
terest in the affairs of the farm that
you have yourself. He lives in an
ideal world to some extent, ard
you must be interested in some of
the things that he Ia interested in,
aud thereby establish u fraternal
feeling between him and yourself
and not have him living an isola
ted life, and you another. The
boy may do your bidding in a me
chanical sort of way, because of the
weight of paternal authority, but
not from any great love of work or
interest in that particular work in
which you. may be engaged. The
boys mind will be engaged in a
great many other things beside his
work, and it is necessary that it
should he, or he would become a
very dull boy indeed, and you
would be ashamed of him. You
must have his mind interested as
well as his body put TO work. You
must show that you have an inter
estsin the Buys welfare; that you
have more regard for him than
lust to get a mans full days work
out of him for every day in the
year. You must recollect the old
adage, that: "All work and no
play, makes Jack a dull boy
Your conversation with him, must
not all be embraced in positive or.
ders: tom, do this" or Tom, do
that" This of itself becomes rath
er monotonous after awhile. On
the other hand, it is true, that a
farmers mind should not be wan
dering to the end of the earth
The question is, how to make this
of interest to our children, and TO
the laborers he may have in his
employ. To do this he must know
something himself. He ought to
be able to explain the why and
wherefore of every thing done on
the farm.
l have often thought that. some
farmers go through with their work
mechanically, without any definite
view of what they were doing
They pillow the ground just because
their fathers did, without a know
ledge of the real reason why it
should be done, when it should,
and the best manner of doing the
same.
On every branch of industry,
which is dependent on natural
law for its success, we ought to
have a k,,o,oLedge of natural law or
the method of nature.
We ought, as farmers, TO have
some knowledge of vegetable phys
iology, to know how plants grow.
We ought to know the conditions
upon which plant life depend
warmth, light and moisture, be-
sides the elements of growth found
in the soil, and embraced under the
branch of agricultural chemistry.
You talk toa boy about these things.
Tell him the reasons for every
thing you do on the farm, so far as
you know the same yourself, that
there is world of knowledge con
nected with his pursuit, by the
acquisition of which, he can raise
himself to position and influence
in society, besides the material
benefit which will accrue from
knowing it for himself.
And now to the young farmer or
farmers boy, if there are such
wi hin the sound of my voice, |
wish to speak words of encourage
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